Looking at statistical information in the form
of graphs, tables and summary statistics is useful if you know what you are
looking at. Interpretation of statistics represented with maps can be made simple
by use of proportional symbols. Bigger means more is obvious and intuitive,
but a somewhat distortion prone mental transformation. In this lab you are going
to get data in tabular format, fix it, link it to a shapefile, and make maps
with it. You will see how effective this technique of representation can be,
but also learn about some of the limitations. See Slocum 2005 Ch 16, Proportional
Symbol Mapping for some background. Also, along the way you will be learning
some nuts and bolts ArcGIS stuff.

Make internet use,
population and GDP spatial by joining tables (Part 1)

Aside from making proportional symbol maps you
are going to learn how to join tabular data to geospatial data (polygons). With
this technique you can turn just about anything into a map. First you are going
to look at the data in more detail; a shapefile consists of several files, some
are related to the spatial components, the features, and one component contains
the attribute information, the data that are linked to the features.

Shapefiles are the most common GIS data type
you will encounter, and preferred by an increasing number of ArcGIS functions.
There are other data formats, most notably the coverage data format. There are
essentially two main structures for geospatial data, vector (lines, points,
polygons) and raster (grids of cells/pixels). We will be working with exclusively
vector data, perhaps later you can work with some raster data.

Step 1 - Copy the countries
shapefile

Note: if you have not configured Windows Explorer
to show file extensions, or list Details by default, you should do so now. The
procedure is outlined in [ Introduction
to ArcGIS ] under the Windows Explorer subheading.

With Windows Explorer go to C:\WorkSpace, make
a folder called "lab6" (or call it proportional_symbol_maps) *do not use spaces
in the filename or folders. (see Introduction
to ArcGIS )

You are going to copy a shapefile that is installed
as part of the ArcGIS software. There are predefined templates for maps, you
can use these when you create a new map layout in ArcMap. The data for these
templates are stored in the Program Files directory. There are two ways to copy
a shapefile, using Windows Explorer or ArcCatalog.
Choose one and copy the Cntry00 shapefile to the working directory (the folder
you will be using for this lab).

Step
1.1 - Copy the countries shapefile (Windows Explorer)

Using Windows Explorer, go to C:\Program Files\ArcGIS\Bin\TemplateData\World
(you can copy-paste this path into the Address Bar if you have configured Windows
Explorer properly). Find the Cntry00 shapefile (there are 7 files that constitute
this shapefile), copy them all to your working directory.

Step
1.2 - Copy the countries shapefile (ArcCatalog)

Connect to the TemplateData folder with ArcCatalog
and copy the shapefile. Copy-paste this path,
C:\Program Files\ArcGIS\Bin\TemplateData\World, into the Location field (Address
Bar) along the upper part of ArcCatalog.

With ArcCatalog you only have to select the one
shapefile (.shp) icon and it will automatically copy the associated files. The
screenshot below shows the view of the TemplateData folder using ArcCatalog.

Start ArcMap and open the shapefile you've copied
to the lab6 folder. Click on one of the countries with the Identify tool and
look at the attributes. We will be using the attribute of the country's name
attribute (CNTRY_NAME) to join tables to these polygons.

Step 2 - Get statistics

The CIA do all sorts of things, one of the good
things this agency does is compile and maintain the "CIA World Fact Book". This
data collection has been published since the early 1960s and provides numerous
economic, social, demographic and geographic statistics.

Open this link [ http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/ ]. At the top there is a pulldown menu, select World. This will take you to
another webpage with a world map, projected with the transverse mercator map
projection, at the top.

Scroll down on the World page until you see "Population",
click on the icon next to it that looks like a bar graph with three bars. This
will take you to a webpage showing the rank order of countries based on population
(in html), click the "Download Datafile" link at the top of this page. This
will open a page of tab-delimted text. Do File -> Save As ... and save the
.txt file as "population.txt" in the lab6 folder.

Go back to the World page and scroll down until
you see "GDP - per capita", click on the icon next to it that looks like a bar
graph. This will take you to a webpage showing the rank order of countries according
to per capita GDP, click the "Download Datafile" link at the top of this page.
This will open a page of tab-delimted text. Do File -> Save As ... and save
the .txt file as "gdp_per_capita.txt" in the lab6 folder.

Go back to the World page and scroll down to
"Internet users" (its under the Communication World section, towards the bottom
of the page), click on the icon next to it that looks like a bar graph. This
will take you to the rank order of countries according to Internet users, click
the "Download Datafile" link at the top of this page. Then Do File -> Save
As ... and save the .txt file as "internet_use.txt" in the lab6 folder.

In the lab6 folder you should now have three
text files.

Step 2.1 - Edit a
textfile with Notepad

Open the gpd_per_capita.txt file you just saved
using Notepad. We need to get rid of the $ symbol and all the spaces that follow
it. In Notepad copy the $ and all the spaces after it leading up to the beginning
of the number (as shown in the screenshot below).

Go up to Edit -> Replace

In the Replace dialog, paste the text you copied
in the Find what: field (the $ and all the spaces), click in the Replace with
field but leave it empty. Click the Replace All button, and Notepad will find
all the $ ...... and replace it with nothing.

Next do find-and-replace to get rid of all the
commas in gdp_per_capita.txt, save it after you've removed all the commas and
open the other two text files (internet_use.txt, population.txt) and do find-and-replace
to get rid of the commas in those text files as well. Close Notepad.

Step 2.2 - Import
tab-delimted text into Excel, and edit

Start Excel, and do File -> Open. In the Open
dialog you will need to tell Excel to see .txt files, in the Files of type pulldown
select Text Files (of All Files).

You are going to use Excel to edit and format
the imported text file and save it as a dBASE spreadsheet. Warning:
Excel makes it difficult to save .dbf (dBASE) format so be careful with this.

Step 2.2.1 - Import
GDP textfile

Start Excel, got File -> Open and select the
gdp_per_capita.txt file you just edited, click Open. Excel will start the Text
Import Wizard. Select Delimited (if it isn't already selected) and click Next.
Make sure under Delimiters that Tab is checked, click Finish.

Delete the first row. Right-click on the 1 row
tab (left side bar) choose Delete.

Highlight the Rank column A, hold down Ctrl,
and highlight the Date of Information column D, and right-click and choose Delete.

Change the name in the first B column cell to
just "GDP". Change row 1 column A to "CNTRY_NAME". Set the column widths by
double-clicking on the division between the row tabs at the top, this will widen
the columns automatically to fit the longest entry. With dBASE the visible column
width determines how much of the name (or numbers) will be saved, if you don't
make them wide enough the names will be truncated and the join will not work.

An important
step when creating a .dbf file is to remove the formatting, if there is any,
because ArcGIS might not interpret it correctly. Select both column A and B,
right-click on heading and choose Format Cells ..., in the Format Cells dialog
choose General and click OK.

* Later, after you join the dbf file to the
shapefile if you get <<null>> when you use the Identify tool to
check that the join worked, this formatting issue is more than likely the problem.

Sort the spreadsheet alphabetically (the button
with the capital blue/red AZ on it, click Yes to expand selection). Fix some
of the errors in place names. "Korea South" should be South Korea, "Korea North"
should be North Korea, "Congo Democratic Republic of the" should be Congo, DRC,
"Congo Republic of the" should just be Congo, "Bahamas The" should be The Bahamas.
ESRI has used a "&" in place of "and" in coding country names, thus do a
find and replace in Excel for " and " with " & " (* include the spaces before
and after in each). There are more, but this is enough for now. When doing joins
it is important to check your data thoroughly, but for the sake of this exercise
perfection is not required. If you are a perfectionist ArcGIS will be a nightmare
for you.

* Before you save the file to dBASE you need
to select all the values because Excel will only save the data values that are
selected in the dBASE file. Highlight all the values by selecting both the CNTRY_NAME
and GDP columns. Go up to File -> Save As ..., from the Save as type: pulldown
menu choose DBF 4 (dBASE IV).

Warning: Excel doesn't like to let go
of files that are not in its own .xls format. When
you click Save, Excel will bark at you with a warning message about dBASE not
recognizing some things (this is why you set the cell formatting to General),
click Yes. Close the spreadsheet, Excel will bark at you asking you to save
the file (again!). Click Yes, if it will barks at you again with the warning
message just do whatever it says to make it let you have a dBASE file.

After you have successfully saved the gdp_per_capita.dbf
and there are no spreadsheets open, proceed with importing the next .txt file.

Step 2.2.2 - Import
internet_users textfile

Open the internet_users.txt file using Excel,
and import it with the Text Import Wizard. Remove the first line as you did
for gdp_per_capita, and delete the Rank and Date of Information columns. Delete
the rows for World and European Union (we want individual countries). Although
when you join the dbf to the shapefile only matching records will be retained,
there is no polygon labeled "World" or "European Union" in Cntry00, it is usually
best to clean-up as much as possible.

Change row 1 column A to "CNTRY_NAME" and change
the heading for column B to "INTERNET". Select both columns, right-click and
choose Format Cells ..., in the Format Cells dialog choose General. Widen
each column so they are wide enough to contain the longest entries, to do this
double-click on the separation between the column heading tabs (as
shown above).

Sort the spreadsheet alphabetically and fix some
of the errors in place names. "Korea South" should be South Korea, "Congo Democratic
Republic of the" should be Congo, DRC, "Congo Republic of the" should just be
Congo, "Bahamas The" should be The Bahamas. You can correct other names if you
feel so compelled, but it is not a necessity. ESRI has used a "&" in place
of "and" in coding country names, thus do a find and replace in Excel for "
and " with " & " (* include the spaces before and after in each).

Do File -> Save As ..., and save it as DBF
4 (dBASE IV) file as you did for gpd_per_capita. Again, ignore the warning message
and click Yes, then close the spreadsheet (if Excel barks at you again, do the
same routine again). After you've saved internet_users.dbf, and Excel is empty,
open the next .txt file.

Step 2.2.3 - Import
population textfile

Open population.txt, and import it with the Excel's
Text Import Wizard. As before, delete the first row and the Rank and Date of
Information columns. Delete row 2 and row 5 (the World and European Union entries).
Change row 1 column B to "POP" and column A to CNTRY_NAME, and format both column's
cells using General. Widen each column so they are wide enough to contain the
longest entries by double-clicking on the column tab separators.

Sort the spreadsheet alphabetically and fix some
of the errors in place names. "Korea South" should be South Korea, "Korea North"
should be North Korea, "Congo Democratic Republic of the" should be Congo, DRC,
"Congo Republic of the" should just be Congo, "Bahamas The" should be The Bahamas.
ESRI has used a "&" in place of "and" in coding country names, thus do a
find and replace in Excel for " and " with " & " (* include the spaces before
and after in each).

Save this file as a dbf file using DBF 4 (dBASE
IV). When Excel barks at you repeatedly about irrelevant issues, just click
Yes and do what ever it tells to do in order to get the population.dbf file
saved.

Step 3 - Verify the
.dbf tables

You should now have three dbf files in the lab6
folder.

Close Excel, and then reopen the spreadsheets
one by one to make sure that each of the column headings are correct. Each table
should list CNTRY_NAME in the first column and GDP, INTERNET, or POP in the
second. Both columns should be wide enough to contain the longer names/numbers,
and both column's cells should be formatted as General. If Excel tries to interpret
their format as Number, you can either try to change it back to General and
resave it, or just see if it works.

Close Excel.

Step 4 - Make a join

Add the three .dbf files to ArcMap. You can
drag & drop files from ArcCatalog (or sometimes from Windows Explorer) into
ArcMap (or ArcToolbox dialog boxes) or click the plus button at the top of ArcMap
and add them that way.

Right-click on Cntry00 and go to Joins and Relates
-> Join ...

In the Join Data dialog that opens choose CNTRY_NAME
as the join field (1), select one of the tables, internet_user.dbf in the example
shown below, for the second field (2). ArcGIS will read the table's column headings
and add the attributes it finds that match those of the first layer, select
CNTRY_NAME from the pulldown menu in the last field (3). Click OK and click
No when asked if you want to build an index.

Check to see if it worked. With the Identify
tool click on a country. You should see the joined attribute (CNTRY_NAME) linked
to the internet_users entry for the country you clicked on. If it didn't work
there is most likely a problem with your cell formatting,
or you didn't have the columns highlighted when you saved it as a dbf. If there
is a problem with the join you need to remove it by right-clicking on Cntry00,
go to Joins and Relates -> Remove Join(s).

If there is no problem, proceed with joining
the other two spreadsheets.

Right-click on Cntry00 again and choose Join.
This time the first field will be named differently, Cntry00.CNTRY_NAME, after
you do the first join. The beginning part of the name is what ArcGIS is using
to internally to store the relationship between the shapefile's attribute table
(Cntry00.dbf) and the spreadsheet (internet_users.dbf).

Select the next .dbf file and in the last field
select CNTRY_NAME. Click OK and then click OK again, when you are asked if you
want to create an index click No. Indexes are useful for massive tables but
ours is simple enough that it will make no difference. Right-click on Cntry00
and do one more Join for the last dbf table (following the same procedure).

Step 4.1 - Verify
the join worked

With the Identify tool click on a few countries.
Some of the smaller countries may not have a value, but all of the larger countries
should have the three values (INTERNET, GDP, and POP). If you see <<null>>
there is a problem with the dBASE file(s), or perhaps CNTRY_NAME are not identical
in the shapefile and the bBASE file (and therefore not joined).

If it worked your first time through, good, if
it didn't fix it. You will need to remove the join(s) you did that didn't work.

Once all the joins work, you have all the .dbf
files joined correctly to the shapefile so long as ArcMap stays open with the
files in this working directory are active. If you close ArcMap you loose the
joins. To save the join parameters you've created permanently, make a Feature
Layer.

Step 5 - Make a Feature
Layer

Although ArcGIS does temporarily store joins,
it is best that you save this somehow. Having a Feature Layer file will allow
you to save the join parameters, modify the .dbf files if necessary, and export
a new version of the shapefile without having to modify the original shapefile's
attribute table (Cntry00.dbf) or go through the joining procedures again.

To make a Feature Layer start ArcToolbox and
go to Data Management Tools -> Layers and Table Views -> Make Feature
Layer.

In the Make Feature Layer dialog click the folder
button next to the Input Feature field and select the Cntry00 shapefile in the
lab6 folder (it should also appear in the pulldown menu too because you have
it open in ArcMap). After you specify the shapefile to base the Feature Layer
on notice that in the bottom part of the Make Feature Layer dialog that all
the joins are listed.

Name the Output "Cntry00_Layer" (if it is not
named automatically), click OK.

The layer file (Cntry00_Layer) will be added
automatically to ArcMap when you click OK.

Step 5.1 - Save
the feature layer as a file in the lab6 folder

To save the Feature Layer use Toolbox and go
to Data Management Tools -> Layers and Table Views -> Save To Layer File.

In the Save To Layer File dialog select the
Layer you just created (click the pulldown and select "Cntry00_Layer"). Next
to the Output Layer field click on the folder button and go to the lab6 folder,
next to Name type in "Cntry00_Layer" and click Save, then click OK.

After you save the Feature Layer it should update
ArcMap automatically, if it doesn't remove the first Feature Layer (Cntry00_Layer)
and add the Feature Layer you just saved in the lab6 folder. Once you have added
the Feature Layer you saved, get the Identify tool and click on an country to
make sure the joined information is still retrieved correctly.

In ArcCatalog look that the files you have created.
The feature layer file (Cntry00_Layer.lyr) now stores the join relationships
that link all the dbf file together. If you close ArcMap all you have to do
is add Cntry00_Layer.lyr and the joins are restored, provided all the file names
(paths) remain the same.

You can update the contents of the .dbf files,
and so long as the CNTRY_NAME attribute remains intact for each entry the join
will hold. The Feature Layer is a useful file if you ever find yourself working
on a project involving data collection from multiple sources, all you have to
do is keep this Feature Layer current/correct and the data values in the joined
spreadsheets can be updated.

Step
6 - Make a new shapefile with the joined tables combined

To make the joined information contained in the
three dbf files a permanent part of a new shapefile you need to export it. First
make a query that will select the polygons that have the value we wish to map
joined to them, go up to Selection -> Select By Attribute. In the Select
By Attribute dialog make a query that will select only joined polygons that
have a value for the INTERNET field.

Now, with those polygons selected, right-click
on the Cntry00_Layer and do Data -> Export Data. In the Export Data dialog
that opens verify that next to Export it has Selected features, then name the
new shapefile "Countries" and verify that it will be written to the lab6 folder.
This may take a few seconds because ArcGIS has to extract all of the values
from each of the dbf files and append Cntry00's Attribute table (Cntry00.dbf).

Clear the selected features by doing Selection
-> Clear Selected Features. Now clean up the Attribute Table. When you exported
the data from the Feature Layer it combined all the joined spreadsheet entries
into this one, and there are some useless scraps left over. Right-click on the
Countries layer you just created and added to ArcMap, and choose Open Attribute
Table. To delete fields right-click on each column heading one at a time and
choose Delete Field. Get rid of everything but the first 4 fields (keep FID,
Shape, CNTRY_NAME, FIRST_FIRS) also retain the three fields you joined (keep
GDP, INTERNET, POP), but all the others can go.

After you finished deleting all the worthless
fields (columns) your final attribute table should have seven columns (see example
below).

Step 7 - Projections

Geospatial data are encoded with certain units
(feet, meters, degrees, etc.), the spatial components of each feature (lines,
points) are projected using a mathematically defined transformation. The earth
is round and maps are flat, map projections flatten the round earth. ArcGIS
recognizes a bewildering number of projections, but in practice only a limited
subset of these are used. Map projection is a topic of GIS in and of itself
(see Projection Lab
2.1, Lab
2.2 for more on this topic). ArcGIS has attempted to remedy problems
associated with dealing with map projections by doing "projections on the fly".
Essentially ArcGIS will try to recognize what projection your data have, if
this information is not already explicitly defined (the .prj component of the
shapefile contains this information), and then open them in ArcMap. Sometimes
this works, sometimes it doesn't.

When you add data to ArcMap it is contained in
a Data Frame. Recall that there are two view options in ArcMap, one is Data
View and the other is Layout View. When you are in Layout View you can see the
Data Frame that contains your data, think of this like a window on your data.
You can resize it, move it, and add other data frames to the same map layout.
You can also change the projection of the data frame. Important
note: If you change the projection of the Data Frame this does
not change the projection the data are encoded with.

The
data from TemplateData you are using are all projected with the "Geographic"
projection (which isn't technically a projection, its a spherical coordinate
system). Geographic units, the Map Units, are latitude longitude (degrees, minutes,
seconds, or decimal degrees), these are angles. You can change the Display Units
to whatever you want, but you need to reproject (re-encode) the data to change
the Map Units. All projection operations are based on spherical coordinates.
If, however, you wish to calculate an area, or determine a precise distance,
angles (degrees) are worthless. You need planar coordinates to do this. Square
degrees are meaningless, and for most people a distance specified in degrees
is also meaningless.

Step 7.1 -
Reproject with Data Frame Properties

All the data layers in the Data Frame are projected
with the same coordinate system. The Data Frame will use the coordinate system
of the first layer added to that Data Frame (this is what is called "on the
fly" projection). We do not want to take advantage of this feature now though,
we want to transform the coordinate system to planar coordinates so as to be
able to calculate area for the Countries shapefile.

There are a lot of countries in the world that
are relatively small, small in terms of area. They are by no means insignificant,
but for the sake of making a nice looking map (reduce overlapping symbols) it
will be easier to Exclude small countries. To calculate Area we need to project
the data to a planar coordinate system using a equal area projection. Mollweide
is a good choice I think, but Sarah B. might think otherwise.

Once you have changed the projection of the Data
Frame, Export the shapefile and make certain it will retain the projected planar
units.

Step 7.2 -
Export projected shapefile

Right click on Countries in the data frame you
just projected and do Data -> Export Data. Be sure to specify "Use the Coordinate
System of the data frame", and name the Output "Countries_eqarea.shp"

Click Yes to add it to ArcMap.

Step 7.3 -
Add Area to the attribute table

Right-click on Countries_eqarea, choose Open
Attribute Table, then click on Options -> Add Field ...

In the Add field dialog name the new attribute
Area, set the type to Float, and set the Precision to 20 (leave scale 0, this
is just the number of decimal places). Precision is the number of spaces that
ArcGIS will hold for the Area, yes 20 is excessive but its better to be too
long than too short (ArcGIS will be calculating areas for countries in meters).
Click OK when you've done this and a new column for Area will appear in the
attribute table with 0's for every country.

Calculate areas for the countries polygons. Right-click
on the Area column heading and choose Calculate Values ...

Click yes to the warning message, and in the
Field Calculator dialog use the following procedure to calculate area.

Put the variable dArea in the text box directly
under the Area field name. Click OK.

Note: you can Save this calculation script and
Load it if you are going to be using this same procedure over and over.

The results should appear in the Area column,
these units are square meters so they should be very large numbers (if you get
small numbers, you did not reproject the data)

Note:
the incantation you copy-pasted above into Field Calculator may seem a bit like
a magic spell. Ian Ko's webpage has a free zipfile you can download with over
100 such spells for Field Calculator.
( http://www.ian-ko.com/free/free_arcgis.htm )
If the procedure above did not work, download and unzip the file from ian-ko.com
and use Load in Field Calculator (use polygon_Return_Area.cal from the zip file).

Close ArcMap (and ArcCatalog if you have it open).
There is no need to save your map layout at this point.

Step 7.4 - Rename
the dbf

With Windows Explorer go to the the lab6 folder
(or whatever folder you are working from). Rename the original Countries.dbf
to Countries_OLD.dbf, and rename Countries_eqarea.dbf to Countries.dbf

Does what you just did make sense? Basically
you reprojected an exact copy of the Countries shapefile to an area preserving
planar coordinate system, added an Area field to the attribute table, calculated
the areas of all the polygons, and then renamed the attribute table (.dbf).
The only difference between the attribute tables is that one has an Area attribute
and the other does not, everything else is identical. Renaming
dbf files is an efficient trick for calculating areas or lengths. If you are
using a Feature Layer to maintain join relationships keeping consistent names
is important. All we wanted was the Area column, and since we've changed nothing
else (most importantly, we did not change the number of polygons or edit them),
renaming the attribute table works.

Start ArcMap and add the Countries shapefile.
Check that it worked by click on some countries with the Identify tool and comparing
their relative areas.

After you are certain that you have the data
you want, the Countries shapefile has all the attributes and the Area field
you just added, clean up after yourself. Close ArcMap (and ArcCatalog). Again,
there is no need to save your map layout at this point.

Step 8 - Cleanup
and Backup

With Windows Explorer, go to C:\Workspace\lab6
(or whatever Workspace folder you are using for this exercise). Get rid of the
worthless files. You have verified the integrity of the new Countries shapefile,
so the others can go. Although this may seem trivial to you now, it is best
to get in the habit of getting rid of stuff as you go.

After you have deleted the unnecessary files,
make a backup. If ever you find yourself slaving over a complicated editing
task, it helps to make a backup every once in a while. Occasionally, but rarely,
a dataset may become corrupt for some reason (a glitch in the file system caused
by a harddisk error, ArcGIS crashes in the middle of an editing session, the
power goes out, or a butterfly farts in Tibet ... whatever). Just follow this
procedure and you will save yourself the agony of having to redo hours of tedious
work. I realize this sentence is almost pointless because this is something
you will have to learn on your own. Always make backups.

There are two popular compression utilities for
Windows, one is WinZip and the other is WinRar. Both do the same thing, they'll
take a bunch of files or folders and make them into one compressed file. Select
the important files, or all of them, right-click and choose Add to archive ...
(or Add to Zip). This archive file can be moved, emailed, or put on another
computer and extracted (so long as the extracted files retain the same path
your ArcMap layouts will work).

All you will need for Part 2 are the Countries
and Cntry00 shapefiles. Recall that shapefiles, when viewed with Windows Explorer,
actually consist of multiple files.

Optional: With Windows Explorer go to C:\Documents
and Settings\<user>\Local Settings\Temp. This is a "hidden folder", why
I don't know, but you will have to have changed the default setting for Windows
Explorer to see it (Instructions).
In that folder you will see all kinds of ArcGIS droppings. You can delete all
these files, some times these files can cause headaches. You can always Restore
them from the Recycle Bin should there be a problem.

Good, now we're safe from the butterflies, and
we can do what we please. Always make backups, be obsessive about cleanliness
and organization, and learning ArcGIS will be a much less trying experience.

The attribute "FIRST_FIRS" contains region names.
There are 5 regions, 6 since Australia is given a separate region attribute.
Start a empty ArcMap layout and add Countries and the original Cntry00 shapefiles.

Highlight Countries and go up to Selection ->
Select By Attribute. In the Select By Attribute dialog make a query to select
all the Europe polygons. If you highlight an entry under Fields, and click the
Get Unique Values button all the attributes contained in that field will be
displayed. Once you construct the query, click Apply, and then close the Select
By Attributes dialog. If this query were more complicated, or one that you might
be using repeatedly, you can Save/Load it.

Next, with the Europe polygons selected, do
Data -> Export Data. In the Export Data dialog make sure that in the Export
field at the top is set to Selected features, name the output Europe.shp, and
click OK.

Click Yes when asked if you want to add it to
ArcMap. Unselect everything (Selection -> Clear Selected), and then change
the symbolization of the Countries shapefile to be light gray and make the outlines
of the polygons two shades darker gray. This will serve the purpose to fill
the space behind the area of interest, emphasizing it visually on the map. Right-click
on Europe and choose Zoom To Layer.

Step
1.1 - Make polygons into points

Note:
Converting Polygons to Points ("Features to Points') requires Workstation.
If you do have Workstation installed there is a work around if Features to Points
is not available, but if you DO NOT have Features to Points skip
to Step 2. You can use the polygon shapefile (Europe) to create the maps,
just not using points so your ability to change the appearance of the map (move
points around and transparency) will be limited. Not to worry.

Start ArcToolbox and covert the
Europe polygons into points shapefile. Go to Data Management Tools -> Features
-> Feature To Point. In the Feature To Point dialog set the Input Features
as the Europe shapefile, since this shapefile is currently active in ArcMap
it should be available in the pulldown menu. The Output Feature Class will by
default be written to the lab6 folder, and it should be automatically named
and added to ArcMap.

You can now close ArcToolbox.

Step
1.2 - Adjust some of the points

The symbols, circles, are going
to be based on the points. The locations of some of the points should be adjusted
so they occupy a more open location on the map. In the screenshot below I have
identified four points that should be moved prior to making the proportional
circles. Highlight Europe_FeatureToPoint and go up to the Editor pulldown and
select Start Editing. Move these points so they are located more centrally in
the polygons. Feel free to adjust the locations of other points you think need
to be moved within their respective polygons.

Once you've moved the points
go back to the Editor pulldown and do Save Edits, Stop Editing.

Step 2 - Choose
a good projection

Map projections are an important consideration
when making small scale (continental to global) maps. Although for the purposes
of visual representation the choice of projection is more for visual appeal,
as apposed to accurate area or distance accuracy. As far as distortions of area
or length are considered, projection at the sub-state level (i.e. County, City)
is negligible because the curvature of the earth at that scale is irrelevant.

Use the same procedure you used earlier for setting
the Data Frame projection to reproject Countries to an area preserving projection,
but this time choose a projection from Predefined -> Projected Coordinate
Systems -> Continental -> Europe. I've chosen Equidistant, but feel free
to use another projection as there will not be a significant discernable difference
at this scale (zoom to the full extent of Cntry00 if you want to see the difference).

Step 3
- Make Graduated symbol map for Europe's internet users

Making proportional symbol maps using ArcMap
can be a bit tricky. Using graphics software (i.e. CorelDraw, AdobeIllustrator,
or MacroMedia Freehand) to do this by eye using scaling calculations from a
spreadsheet works. With ArcMap you can precisely control the scaling as well
as some other important parameters.

First, before we begin, lets save this map layout.
Save this map layout as "Europe Internet Use", be sure to do File -> Map
Properties ..., click the Data Source Options button and set it to store relative
path names. Setting the relative path option should, in theory, allow you to
compress and move the entire folder (with all the data the .mxd map layout is
based on) and then reopen it (see Project
Properties).

Stay in Layout view when composing a this map.
If you change the map's scale, the sizes of the circles will change so change
the size of your Data Frame so it fills most of the page (leave a 1/2 inch margin,
and 1 inch from the top). Now, after you've saved the map layout, open the Properties
-> Symbology for Europe (or _FeatureToPoint if you have Workstation, and
have generated a point file from the Europe polygons). Go to Quantities, and
choose Graduated symbols. Set the Value to INTERNET. Change the number of classes
to 8. Check on "Show class ranges using feature values"

You can change the range of Symbol Size from:
to: based on how it appears in your layout, you will have to change it again
is you change the frame size. This is where it gets "tricky" because there are
quite a few options to manipulate that will change the appearance of the map.

Click on the Template button, and choose a solid
circle. You can also choose an icon, or get really fancy with 3D symbols, but
for now a circle is best. Symbolize the circle using a slightly darker value
(darker color). Pastels are generally favored over loud colors, but this is
a matter of preference. Make it so the circles have an outline of dark gray
instead of black (hint: click it has something do do with the Symbol -> Properties
...

You can noodle around with this stuff (Symbology)
for hours and figure-out all kinds of neat stuff ... if you remember how to
do what you figured out how to do yesterday, or even a few minutes ago, is a
different matter.

Click the Classify button. Here, I would suggest
based on the data distribution, to choose Quantiles or Natural Breaks. The Classification
dialog window will show you the distribution of data values and the class breaks
for the 8 classes. Feel free to experiment with a different means of classifying
the data (Standard Deviation, Natural Breaks etc.) and observe how the class
breaks shift.

Warning: ArcGIS
has issues sometimes re-drawing the map after you make changes to symbology.
Refresh after each change (there is a refresh button in the lower right, or
F5).

Note:
This Data Classification stuff is of importance for thematic mapping in general,
you are encouraged to familiarize yourself with basic concepts discussed in
Slocum Ch 5, Data Classification.

Step
3.1 - Exclude small areas from the classification

After you've decided on a classification, click
the Exclusion... button. In the Data Exclusions Properties dialog exclude the
smaller countries, Area < 1,000,000,000 (1,000 sq. km). This may change your
choice of Classification, but I don't think it will. This is more for the sake
of making an uncluttered map (reducing the number of overlapping circles). The
scale of you map will not allow for these small countries to be visually identifiable
unless it is customized considerably. Click OK, then OK again to close the Classification
dialog, and then Apply.

After you click Apply in the Layer Properties
dialog you can see the proportional symbols. Warning: the symbols will
scale according to the size of the view extent. The size of the data frame (or
the scale of the map) will may require that you adjust the Symbol Size from:
to: accordingly.

Step 3.2
- Add transparency to the circles

Note:
you will not be able to use transparency unless your symbolization is from points,
if you were not able to convert the Europe shapefile to points (see
previous note on this) you will not be able to make the circles semi-transparent
so you can see the country boundaries underneath as is shown in the following
screenshots. Not a serious issue, you will still be able to make the maps.

Make the circles semi-transparent
so you can see the boundaries underneath. To turn on the transparency tool,
go up to View -> Toolbars -> Effects. Next to Layer set it to the layer
you wish to adjust the transparency for (Europe_FeatureToPoint), click on the
button next to it and adjust the slider.

Step 4
- Arrange the map layout

Move and resize the data frame to fill the page
but leave about a 1/4-1/2 inch one each side accept the top leave 1 inch. You
can use guidelines if you feel the need for precision, click on the rules along
the edge of the layout view (if they are visible, turn them on by going up to
View, and scrolling down to Rulers). If you add a guideline, but later want
to remove it you can right-click on the little arrow at the end of the guideline
and remove it.

Navigating in Layout View may take some practice
in order to gain some dexterity with the interface. Remember: there are tools
for manipulating the map layout, and tools for manipulating the view of the
data contained within the data frame. You may need some practice with this to
learn how to position, edit, and move the map's features. (the "zoom to previous"
blue arrow is very useful)

Notice in the screenshot above that I have changed
the Symbol size from: to: in order to make them visible and to make the circles
size differences more pronounced. There are cartographic rules of thumb for
graduated symbols, but I've set the range (difference between from: to:) and
the min max visually based on what I want to portray. Later you will make another
map use the Proportional method of symbolization, this method is not as controllable
as using the Graduated method but it does offer a different visual impression.

Step
4.1 - Finishing touches

1) Add necessary text information. To add text
click on the text tool in the lower left, this is intentionally similar to Microsoft
Office. Adjust the font, style, color, etc. Add a title for your map at the
top, data source at the bottom, the projection and mapping method, the date
it was created and by who. Feel free to be creative with these.

2) Add a scalebar. Go up to Insert -> Scalebar.
You can convert the inserted scalebar to a graphic. To convert it to a graphic
right-click and choose Convert to Graphics and then right-click and choose Ungroup.

Warning:
The scale bar after it has been inserted to the map is linked to the data frame,
so if you zoom in or otherwise change the scale of the data contained with the
Data Frame it will change accordingly. However, after you convert it to graphics
it is not. If you zoom and change the scale of the data contained in the data
frame you will need to recreate the scalebar.

3) (optional) There is no need to a north arrow
on a map of this scale, it is clear which direction is North. This is a matter
of preference if you want to include a north arrow on finer scale maps go nuts.

4) (optional)
Add a legend, and customize it. To add a legend go to Insert -> Legend. Generate
the legend by clicking through the options. At this point I need to reiterate
a subtle warning to perfectionist, details are important in Cartography but
so is getting the map done. You can spend an inordinate amount of time noodling
with graphics, don't. More time can be spent on this later. If you insist on
perfection export this map to a .ps or .ai file, import it into Corel or AdobeIllustrator
and go nuts.

To noodle with the legend in ArcMap move it to
the outside area (off the page). Right-click on the legend and do Convert to
Graphics. Then right-click again and choose Ungroup, and then with everything
still selected right-click again and choose Ungroup. Zoom in to this area containing
the mess of ungrouped objects. Now you can modify all the text, as well as move
and group-ungroup the circles etc. Create a concise legend in as much detail
as can be perceived.

Save the map. Do File -> Export Map... In
the Export Map dialog change the Type to JPEG (.jpg), then click on the little
Options button. Under the Format tab choose 24-bit, move the slider over close
to max and check on the Progressive option at the bottom. Under the General
tab set to to 86 dpi, the image size is pixels. In this case you are making
a map for the web, so about 700-800 pixels wide is as much as you need (most
display settings are rarely wider than 1280 pixels, and most monitors can't
display more than 70-80 dpi). For a map that is to be printed you would generally
want about 200-300 dpi and save it with a uncompressed file type, i.e. TIFF
or BMP.

Step
5 - Make Proportional symbol map for Europe's internet users

You've done all the work of customizing the ArcMap
layout, do File -> Save As... and save a copy of this map layout as "Europe
Internet Users 2". Change the symbology of Europe to use proportional circles
this time. Yes, there are two methods of "proportional" symbolization (see Slocum
Ch 16, Proportional Symbols for details). Essentially
this method incorporates a directly scaled radial distance or area. You cannot
classify the data as you have before, and you are limited as to how to manipulate
the size differences. The advantage of this symbolization method is that it
is directly tied to the data values.

Step 5.1
- Unnormalized

With the copy of the first map you have open
now change the symbology of Europe so as to use Proportional symbols. Use Centimeter
units for the radius and do not use any Normalization.

Save the map layout.

Step 5.2 -
Normalized

Now do File -> Save As ... with this ArcMap
layout again and save this a "Europe Internet Users 3". For this map change
the symbology so as to normalize the INTERNET by POP. The radius of the proportional
circles will now be based on a metric of these two fields (one divided by the
other, Internet users vs. total population). Change the Unit: parameter to Unknown
Units. and click OK and Apply.

Caution is warranted when using normalization
with proportional circles. I've been told by a certain cartographer that it
is a "cartographic no no" to do this, but with related variables that are necessarily
correlated (more people = more internet users) this representation reveals an
interesting pattern. The Northern countries of Europe tend to have a higher
percentage of their populations online (look at Iceland for example, without
normalization by population their "internet presence" is invisible).

Save the map layout and you're done, unless you
do the following optional step. Email me your maps (please).

Step 6 (optional) - Make a proportional symbol map of another region's Internet Use

Now do the same thing for one of the other four
regions (beginning at Step 1 of Part 2). Create two maps of your chosen region,
one showing Internet Users with in Graduated Symbols and the other using Proportional
Symbols. Caution: when you are using Exclude, it would be best to select
an value that is best suited for the region you choose. The Exclude value used
for Europe was determined based on using the Identify tool to click on the smaller
countries to find a good Area value to exclude. You will also need to rescale
your Symbol Size from: to:, use the same color scheme as the maps you've made
for Europe. Also experiment with using GDP for normalization, but beware that
this statistic does not correlate with INTERNET as well as you think it might.
Does normalizing by Area make sense?